How Honorable: The Marauders' Code of Conduct
by mew-tsubaki
Summary: 10-chapter Remmius fic. It's 6th year and Sirius is feeling pretty good about everything...but that changes when Remus appears to make a new friend, one that Sirius does not feel good about. At all. A small romantic adventure for SB/RL shippers! :D


**How Honorable: The Marauders' Code of Conduct**

A HariPo fanfiction

by mew-tsubaki

**Note for all chapters**: The _Harry Potter_ characters belong to J.K. Rowling, not me. Still. -w- Hopefully you're joining me from the _45 Ways to Make a Werewolf Fall for You_ crowd—if not, welcome to the party! Here I present something slightly different from the _45 Ways_ style, though this is another story based on a "list," "The Marauders' Code of Conduct," which I did not write but have seen in some profiles here on FFN (and if you know the original author, PM me so I can give proper credit, thx). Read, review, and enjoy!

- ^-^3

**Rule 1: All Slytherins are disgusting and all should be hated with a passion.**

"Hey. Hey, Remus. _Hey_, Reeeeemmyyy."

"There's no one here called that, Sirius."

"Aw, come on."

Remus closed his book and looked over the edge at his friend. "Sirius, this is called _reading_. Reading makes you _smart_. Smart people let their friends read in peace."

Sirius Black pouted and crossed his arms in front of his chest. He didn't bother meeting Remus' eyes; that had never done him any good. The last time he had met Remus' eyes, Sirius had walked into the wall. Which was made of stone. And that had only happened yesterday.

So Sirius stuck his tongue out at his mate instead. Remus rolled his eyes but otherwise ignored it.

"I'm bored, Remus. Come plan something with me."

"I don't feel like pulling any pranks at the moment, Padfoot."

Sirius sighed and began tapping his foot, hoping the distraction would annoy Remus into action—or at least reaction. The thing was, Sirius had been feeling freer, more independent since running away to live with the Potters this past summer. Sirius had had enough with his family—father, mother, brother, and all—and he had finally gotten up his Gryffindor courage to do as he felt he should have done probably five years prior. And though a smidge of him had fretted about the consequences of his action, he had forged ahead, heart lightened by the thought that James would be there, that James' parents would welcome him with open arms, that he would have a real place he could call home.

The Animagus had been flying high on the feeling for a good few months now, but the emotion was starting to wane. And Remus wasn't helping by refusing to play with him.

"You've got to take the doggie out for walkies every now and then, you know," Sirius asserted. He was amused by the fact that Remus couldn't help raising one eyebrow…but the werewolf still refused to take the bait.

Eventually Sirius left the Gryffindor common room in search of James. It was ridiculous that Sirius had to go on the hunt for his fellow Marauders, especially considering his great mood. He wanted to share the feeling.

Down in the common room, he found James and Peter playing a game of Exploding Snap, but neither of them appeared willing to leave to do something with Sirius. "I've almost won!" Peter cried.

"For once," James remarked. He pulled out another matching pair and breathed a sigh of relief. "I believe the tables have turned, Wormtail."

"Dammit, Prongs, not again…"

Sirius crossed his arms in front of his chest for the second time that evening. "Oh, for crying out loud—it's Sunday night, and all of you blokes are ready for a night in like a bunch of crazy old cat ladies."

"Did you try bothering Remus instead of us?" Peter asked, his face screwed up in consternation as he crossed his fingers until they were little purple sausages in the hopes that luck would have anything to do with it being Peter's turn once more.

"Of course. I went to him first." Sirius didn't miss James' little smirk. "Oi, what's with you, Prongs? I didn't say anything funny."

"Oh, nothing, nothing." James beamed at him as the cards finally exploded in Peter's face, signaling the end of James' turn. "But really, Padfoot. Don't you have some girl to meet, or something?"

Sirius bit his bottom lip. Of course he didn't have a witch to snog tonight. He hadn't planned on all of his friends abandoning him for the night. But, if he were being honest with himself…he hadn't planned on any witchy dates for the past several years. Sure, there was the occasional witch who wanted him to take her somewhere, and Sirius might still hang out with Marlene or Mary or one of the others if they asked, but that was more out of friendship than looking for a good snog.

Besides, Moony looked like a pretty good sno—_Don't even go there, Padfoot_, Sirius internally barked.

James sighed as Sirius continued to delay his response. "All right, Sirius, all right… I'm sure if you need something to do, you can find Snivellus in the library or something. Go hex him and escape detention. That should hold you for the night."

Sirius gritted his teeth and left Gryffindor Tower. Well, if his fellow Marauders were going to be like that, then he had no choice, did he? He _would_ have to go find Severus Snape and do something humiliating to him to bring him out of his funk.

The walk to the library was brusque, as Sirius had grown several more inches over the summer and his legs were even longer. It was a nice feeling, being the tallest of his friends. Sure, he couldn't worm his way out of _every_ problem like James and he didn't know _every_ trick in the book like Remus and he couldn't _always_ get his way by crying as Peter could, but if there was one thing Sirius had, it was his presence. When Sirius Orion Black walked into the room, people knew it.

And when he walked out, they knew that, too. …Sirius frowned and shoved the memory of his departure out of the forefront of his mind.

In the library, it was quieter and darker than usual. That figured; Halloween was next week and winter was practically upon them, so there'd be less light and fewer students studying as the reminder of a celebration distracted them. Sirius started by walking the perimeter of the place; by doing that, not only could he cover the corners, but he could see up most of the aisles, as well.

Except for the random couples hiding in the shadows and the rare student (Ravenclaw, really) burying his head in a Hagrid-sized text, the place was rather empty. Sirius pouted—he'd been hoping to see Snivellus ever since James had put the idea of hexing him in his head a few minutes ago.

"…wrong passage."

Sirius turned his ears to the sound out of boredom. He waltzed toward the direction of the voice and stuck his hands in his pockets. Well, maybe he could still interrupt someone's study session—someone who wasn't Moony.

The Black son almost opened his mouth when the person coughed and muttered a curse under his breath. "Well…thank you."

Oh, Godric. It was Regulus.

Just when Sirius had thought he'd pushed most of his family memories out of his mind, Regulus had to go and ruin everything. Sirius debated revealing himself and giving his younger brother a polite hello. But wouldn't that make his itch worse to scratch? It was best to let sleeping dogs lie—

"It's no problem."

Whoa, wait. What? Sirius blinked, thinking his ears must've been playing tricks on him. He could not have possibly heard—

"I suppose…you're not all _that_ bad…Lupin."

Sirius could almost see his best mate's mouth curving up in a kind smile in his mind's eye. "It's no problem, Regulus. You're my mate's brother."

When Sirius left the library faster than Pince could've ever seen him, he really wished he could've crossed paths with Snivellus then. The end result would've been fantastic.

- ^-^3

James refused to believe him. "Come now, Pads. I think your brain was more than a bit tired two nights ago."

Sirius sat with his friends at the Gryffindor table, chewing his food very slowly. He hadn't said anything to Remus about Sunday night. It had been so bloody awkward—what could he say? "I see you're getting along quite well with my prejudiced former-brother"? No, maybe "quite well" wasn't the right phrasing…

Either way, it irked Sirius that Remus also hadn't said anything to _him_. No, "Oh, I bumped into Regulus last night" or "I saw your brother in the library, Sirius." And why? Why not? Why didn't Remus just say something to him? They were Marauders; they shared everything.

"No, we don't," Peter corrected him. "I don't share my cake, Moony doesn't share his chocolate, you don't share your Bertie Botts beans, and Prongs doesn't share Lily."

"Ahem, why should I ever need to _share_ Lily with anyone?" James asked with a deadly glint in his eye.

Peter shoved a spoonful of porridge into his mouth and talked around it, hoping James would let it go.

"Sorry, what're we talking about?" Remus asked, finally tucking away an essay due next week. He grabbed a piece of fruit and looked at each of them in turn. "What? Why are you all staring at me?"

"Um…you know, I think I see Evans now," James fibbed. He obviously motioned to Peter and the two of them moved down the table. Sirius rolled his eyes. Go figure that James would be helpful _now_ of all times, when Sirius didn't want him to be.

Remus made a face and shrugged it off. "James makes about as much sense as you do sometimes," he commented.

"I make plenty of sense," Sirius retorted. He fidgeted now that he and Remus were alone. And with the werewolf sitting across the table from him, it only made things more awkward. Well, for Sirius.

Remus chuckled and smiled. "Okay, perhaps sometimes. But it makes no sense to waste your energy and bug me when you could be doing something else—like reading," he added with a wag of his finger.

Sirius pursed his lips. Remus was the one who was bringing up Sunday night, in a way… "Hey, Remus…"

"Yes?"

"You really just sat there and studied for the rest of the night?"

Remus looked at him quizzically. "Well, no… I used James' cloak and snuck to the library when you were pestering him and Peter. I'm sorry, Sirius, but it was quieter in the library." His cheeks took on a bit of pink, and he appeared apologetic for leaving the dormitory when he had insisted that he remained there that night.

"Oh. Okay, then." Great. Now Sirius had to ask about—

"I saw Regulus there, though."

Sirius had to stop himself from smiling. He could always count on Remmy to read his mind…wait, he wasn't actually a Legilimens, was he…? Nah, Moony would've told them if he was. "Really?"

"Yeah…" Remus dropped his eyes to his plate and then hesitantly looked up at Sirius—oh, Godric, he was looking up at him from underneath those long, girly eyelashes!—and cleared his throat. "Um…"

"Just because I quit my family doesn't mean I'm going to go ballistic at the mention of them, Moony."

Remus released an audible sigh of relief. "Oh, good. I mean, for a Slytherin, Regulus doesn't seem that bad…sorry," he quickly squeaked when he saw that Sirius' expression hardened. "You know what? Let's drop that subject, Padfoot. Did you ever finish that Transfiguration essay?"

Sirius let it slide. "Eventually. I mean, I kinda got what MickeyGonagall was going on about, because I remember studying some of the same stuff when we were learning to become Animagi…"

And even though breakfast was fine for the rest of the meal and James and Peter returned and made fun of Sirius' frets—"Which were all for nothing," James pointed out—the day felt…off.

Little did Sirius know that one instance of disquieting curiosity would grow large enough to eat him up inside.

- ^-^3

**Well, this is a slightly odd start, I suppose. This fic will be shorter than **_**45 Ways,**_** as I have this planned for 10 chapters. However, I hope that each chapter hits at least 2K words. Though this first chappie is a bit short, some future chapters will be longer. And hopefully this will turn from a light T into a strong T… -w- Because we all know Remmius oughta be a strong T. XD**

**Review and let's see if Regulus can actually **_**help**_** Remmius along…or distance them! *le gasp***

**-mew-tsubaki :O**


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